Daily Activity Patterns and Thermal Tolerance of Three Sympatric Dung Beetle Species (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Eucraniini) from the Monte Desert, Argentina

GIMÉNEZ GÓMEZ, V C; LOMÁSCOLO, S B; ZURITA, G A; OCAMPO, F

NEOTROPICAL ENTOMOLOGY

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC BRASIL

Lugar: BRASIL; Año: 2017

1519-566X

Tolerance to extreme temperatures, thermal limits, and the mechanismsof thermoregulation are related to internal functions of insects and partlydefine their ecological niche. We study the association between dailyactivity of dung beetles from the Monte Desert in Argentina and theirtolerance to high temperatures. Results indicate that for all three sympatricspecies studied, Eucranium belenae Ocampo, Anomiopsoides cavifrons(Burmeister), and Anomiopsoides fedemariai Ocampo, daily activity is associatedto ground temperature. Eucranium belenae is active whenground temperature is relatively low and it is less tolerant to long periodsof activity at high temperatures in the lab, while A. cavifrons andA. fedemariai are active when ground temperatures are higher, and theytolerate high temperatures for longer periods of time than E. belenae inthe lab. These species coexist and use similar food sources, and this ecophysiologicalstudy may help to explain how they differentiate under thesame environmental conditions. The Monte Desert is considered an extremeenvironment, and studies on thermal tolerance offer testable predictionsto understand how species would respond to climate change.